Exmouth coastwatch hut partially collapses during storm

About a third of a building used for training was "undermined by the sea" overnight

High winds and stormy seas have caused "significant" structural damage to a coastwatch station in Devon, the charity has said.

The National Coastwatch Institution (NCI) said the foundations of one of two buildings that make up part of its lookout station at Exmouth "gave way" during a storm overnight.

It said about a third of the building was undermined by the sea.

Station manager Peter Oliver said the building would probably be condemned.

The organisation will still be able to carry out its operations from the lookout tower

A yellow warning for wind was in place across the South West, from the storm named Pierrick by Meteofrance, until 06:00 on Tuesday.

The stormy weather also caused damage across Cornwall.

Mr Oliver said contractors had started work to make the collapsed sea wall safe.

NCI Exmouth, which is operated by volunteers, is comprised of a separate lookout tower and coastwatch hut on either side of the slipway, but the lookout tower remains unaffected.

The organisation said it would still be able to carry out its operations from the lookout tower.

'Hovering in the air'

Mr Oliver said a surveyor still needed to assess the hut but he added: "We believe the decision will be to condemn the building.

"We'll lose our training facilities which is problematic but not insurmountable.

"We've been able to recover most of the materials inside and moved them into people garages, the team has been absolutely brilliant, you just can't beat the sea."

Mr OIiver said the lower building was left "hovering in the air" after the foundations collapsed.

He said council workers were putting "huge concrete Lego blocks" in place and planned to "push over" the damaged sea wall so it could be backfilled.

The structural integrity of the building had been a "recurring theme over some time" but noticeable damage was first seen in the past two days, he added.

The sea was able to get in beyond the initial damage, making the situation "significantly worse", he said.